News Archive

30th October 2007 CLEAN-UP TEAM BEGINS TO STRIP FAST REACTOR Ripping out the innards of Dounreay's famous dome has begun, with the stripping out of the integral reactor ducting and associated equipment that once helped power Britain's first fast breeder reactor. The reactor well ventilation ducting and some electro-magnetic pump ductwork is being removed from the sphere in order to minimise hazards for future decommissioning work and to open up access routes for the removal of the DFR breeder.

It's been estimated that dualling the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness, could lead to an economic benefit of almost £1billion to the Highlands and Islands according to a new study. These benefits would be driven by a reduction in journey times of 22 minutes.

Recycling rates in Highland continued to improve over the past year and a huge "thank you" is extended to everyone who has put the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle message into action. Last year we increased our recycling rate to just over 26% which is fantastic! A massive improvement on where we were only four years ago when we were recycling only 3.5% of our waste!! The downside to this good news, however, is that the amount of waste collected also grew by over 1.6% last year so we must all strive to make recycling and composting a normal part of our daily routine and try to minimise the amount of waste that we generate in the first place.

Dr Paul Fifield, a world renowned marketing strategist, is to deliver a talk on marketing for smaller businesses in Inverness on November 15 at the invitation of The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Scotland (CIM). Dr Fifield has over 30 years' experience in marketing and was a member of the CIM International Board of Trustees 2002-2004.

The September 2007 unemployment figures were released on 17th October 2007. During the month, August 2007 to September 2007, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Great Britain fell 3.4%, from 832,294 to 804,078 (28,216).This figure is lower than September last year, where the number of claimants stood at 924,489, a decrease of 13% (120,411claimants).

The Highland Council is marked Energy Efficiency Week (22nd- 26th October) with events for staff and Elected Members aimed at raising awareness and maintaining the progress made in reducing energy use within Council properties. By signing Scotland's Climate Change Declaration in January 2007 the Council is leading by example in helping to ensure greener, more efficient delivery of public services in the Highlands.

The Captains Galley has picked up another prestigious award at the Silver Thistle Awards run by Visit Scotland. Jim cowie has won the Taste of Scotland Award for 2007 adding to his growing collection of awards for his high quality fish dishes in his restaurant set in the foormer ice house at Scrabster.

Mey Selections farmers are pioneering a new approach to own label ready meals with Sainsburys. North Highland Products, in partnership with Sainsbury's has launched a quality range of new ready meals as part of the retailer's Taste the difference range.

The Highland Council has completed more than £5 million worth of repairs since the severe widespread flooding of 26 October last year, which affected communities on the east of the Highlands ~ from Dingwall to Thurso. Teams within Transport Environmental and Community Services responded speedily and effectively to the emergency on the day, helping protect properties from flooding and closing roads which were affected by floodwaters, landslides, damaged bridges and culverts and from the numerous trees blown down in subsequent gales.

Businesses in the Highlands and Islands are being urged to embrace diversity to improve performance and productivity. A new initiative, Equality Matters in Business, (EMB) has been jointly set up by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise to highlight the positive benefits of employing a diverse workforce and considering diversity in service delivery across all equality strands - gender, race, age, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

QUOYBRAE, Aberdeen and Northern Marts (October 20th) sold 104 Texel, Suffolk and Border Leicester rams and ram lambs under the auspices of the Caithness Sheep Breeders Association Champion Texel a shearling by Stockhill Kasper from R MacKay, Clyth Mains, Lybster sold for £620 to J Munro, Pitkerrie, Fearn. Reserve was a ram lamb by Miller's Miles from C and I Angus, Oldfield Farm, Thurso and sold for £350 to A Webster, Lower Reiss Farm, Wick.

SEPTEMBER 2007 The approvals list for HIE Caithness and Sutherland is in two sections. The first details assistance given to businesses, community groups and other public sector authorities to deliver specific projects.

The post of programme manager for the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership will be taken up on an interim basis by Gordon Cox pending a permanent appointment. A senior member of staff at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Gordon is project director for the organisation's network management system currently based in Inverness.

The results of a Scottish wide household survey has highlighted a large number of positive trends for the Highlands, including a high rating from residents for considering their neighbourhood as a very good place to live. A total of 1,184 households in the Highlands were interviewed over a two year period in a national survey conducted for the Scottish Government.

Following what must have been a surge of client recommendations, a Thurso based wedding videographer has been short listed for the chance to win a prestigious award at a major Scottish wedding industry event. Colin Sinclair who runs Video Viewpoint Productions is one of only five finalists remaining in the wedding videographer category at the Voted Outstanding Wedding Supplier ( VOWS ) awards to be staged at a glittering ceremony in the Edinburgh Corn Exchange next month.